515 of 529 people (97%) found this review helpful57 people found this review funny

Recommended

6,453.3 hrs on record

Posted: December 26, 2015

Let me tell you my story about how GameMaker has turned me into an indie game developer.

About 10 years ago I've begun to play games.Ever since I've wanted to create my own games. I've been painting game interfaces in MS paint for years, pretending to be a game developer.

3 years ago, I've decided that it's time to stop pretending and create a real game.It was a nightmare. I've downloaded many large programs without any idea how to use them, how to create a game with them.It was just too hard to start with almost no knowledge.

I've learned programming basics from the Codeacademy.com and I was able to write very simple programs. I had to learn to program myself because in the school I didn't get any useful programming knowledge.

So, I tried to make a game, downloaded many different compilers, they didn't work and I almost gave up.But then I found GameMaker!

I've downloaded it, completed few simple tutorials and I was already able to make simple games!

Making games with GameMaker was so much fun, that I've almost stopped playing games.

My first RPG was garbage.

My second game, an odd shoot-em-up with RPG elements was also pretty bad, but better. Much better.

My third game was massive RPG, which was bad only because it had awful graphics.Well, okay, there were other awful things...But when I finished making it, I realized that nothing can stop me, that I can create anything I want!

And now I'm making my fourth game. Since I realized I can make a great game with GameMaker, I'm trying to do it and I'm feeling that I'm getting close.This is my story so far and it's really not over!

I don't know what will happen in future, but I hope that one day, my games, made with GameMaker, will stand proudly next to other great games here in Steam!

It's an amazing experience watching your skills grow, watching your games become better and better...So, if you ever wanted to create your own game and didn't yet, grab GameMaker and do it!

305 of 313 people (97%) found this review helpful36 people found this review funny

Recommended

3,190.6 hrs on record

Posted: January 10, 2015

Disclaimer, this is not a program where you can draw some pictures and pop out an AAA game in a weekend. In fact, there is no such thing, as with anything else you get what you put into it. Now for the real review.

I've been using Game Maker for a few years now, since 8.0 was new, spent way more hours on it than I'd care to admit, and now that it's on Steam I like it quite a lot. I'll make a list because I'm lazy and lists are easy to write:

- It's easy to get started with, and the interface is pretty straightforward. It's especially a good way to get beginners' hands wet with game development, since you have pretty much everything you need in a nice, neat GUI you don't need to be intimidated by having thirteen command prompts open at the same time. You make some sprites, you write something out, you hit the little green triangle. No cryptic gcc -o this_is_a_game.c or anything like that.

- The code's simple. Create a room, create an object and start doing magic. There really are no arduous public static void mains or #include<iostream>;, just pure program logic.

- That being said, it's the best intro-to-programming tool I've ever seen, probably better than the Intro to CS class at your high school. Get used to Game Maker, and learning mostly any other language is a breeze. (Just don't slip up and write a line of GML on a school test, I've done that before and it was kind of akward.)

- It can be as simple or as complicated as you want. You can make a fun little puzzle game with exclusively drag-and-drop, so long as you put some time into it, or you can spend a half million lines of code using every tool in the box and make something you'll be proud of for the rest of your life.

- It can do . . . a lot. Basic math, file I/0, controller support, physics, shaders, porting to multiple operating systems or even devices, a decent amount of 3D (that's where the real fun begins, imo), multiplayer networking, IAP/microtransatctions, Steam achievements, you name it. Heck, you don't even have to make a game if you don't want to, you could use it to crunch statistics, manage a database of sorts, do your trigonometry homework, or something even weirder. (Just no malware, please, that ain't cool.)

- There are practically no predefined spaces you have to work in. You have the Rooms you start out in, which are completely empty and can look like anything you want them to. With no disrespect to RPG Maker or GBA ROM hacks, but the way your game looks and feels is completely up to you. If you can imagine it, you can probably make it happen.

- It's fairly easily extendable. If GMS doesn't happen to have a particular networking function, sound engine, particle type or data structure you want, you can probably find an extension someone wrote for it on the Internet. And then there's always the Steam workshop, a lot of the things posted in there are pretty bizarre but there's also a ton of useful things in there you can use.

- It has the most extensive product manual I've ever seen. If you need information about string manipulation quickly, you can just hit F1 and look it up in about 30 seconds. In the rare case that you can't find what you're looking for there,

- Game Maker has a bloody huge community for it, so if you need help with something you usually don't have to look long on the Internet to find an answer. This isn't something directly related to the product but it's still a nice resource to have. Also I make YouTube videos on it periodically, but that's neither here nor there ^^

Couple negatives which I personally don't think are much of a problem but you might want to be aware of:

- Not truly object oriented. Pretty close, with the event types and such, but not quite. Bit irritating if you're like me and your native languages are named Java and Python.

- The error messages are not the easiest things to read in the world. They're not as bad as "Segmentation fault, core dumped, good luck finding the problem" but you may still get some gray hairs trying to figure out what they're telling you.

- It's not the fastest code out there. Games from Studio are a lot faster than games from past versions, but they still don't quite match up with a game made in C or C++. However, you should probably be fine so long as you don't have nine hundred thousand objects active at the same time.

- The code's loose, which is nice, but sometimes too loose for its own good. It doesn't check syntax on the fly to see if you've misspelled a variable name the way Eclipse does, and there are few things more annoying than having to rerun your game because you typed max_health_pionts instead of max_health_points. Ending statements with semicolons is not enforced, and you can get some pretty weird errors if you're not careful about them. It used to be worse, in past versions of GM you could literally have fifteen resources with the same name and you wouldn't even get an error when Game Maker tried to figure out whether you were trying to referring to a sprite, object, room or background, but it can still get pretty messy. In any case, it's always good to encourage organized programming habits.

- Program crashes, sometimes quite often. Sometimes it hangs when you try to open a resource, sometimes it stops responding during compile time even when there's no errors, sometimes you get random Windows memory error messages for no apparent reason. Hopefully they're planning to address some of these (obscure pun not intended) in future updates.

4/9/2015 On version 1.4.x, I haven't seen the program crash for any of the reasons I mentioned just now in quite a while. Not going to assume it's perfect quite yet but it's a lot better than it was when I wrote this.

10/10/2015 Okay, I've started to see GMS crash awkwardly again and am not completely sure why. Just use at your own risk, okay?

- You're going to have people thumbing their noses at you for using a product named "Game Maker." Unfortunate, but true, of all the things Yoyo Games did well for Game Maker, naming it was not one of them. Just show them Undertale. Or just show them Hotline Miami. Or . . . a lot of things, there's a bunch of nice GM games out there nowadays. And then go make something cool and blow their mind, and you'll never have to have that conversation again.

Lastly, this isn't a positive or a negative but it really doesn't make a difference whether you buy this through Steam or the Yoyo Games web site. I prefer Steam because of how connected it is with the workshop and everything (and the achievements look pretty), but to each their own.

172 of 181 people (95%) found this review helpful7 people found this review funny

Recommended

24.0 hrs on record

Posted: October 19, 2014

If you want to get into game making, get this. If you have no idea how to code, you can get started with the drag-and-drop system. However, I recommend learning the programming language Game Maker uses. It's easy to learn, yet you can do a lot of stuff with it. If you're not sure about buying, you can download the Free Edition and try it out, especially now when it doesn't have any resource limits anymore!

145 of 151 people (96%) found this review helpful10 people found this review funny

Recommended

148.9 hrs on record

Posted: October 16, 2015

It's easy to use. And it's free.And for those who are saying "You can only make garbage out of this!" Let me tell you, you're wrong. Here's a list of great games made with GMS:-Undertale-Hotline Miami 1 and 2-Spelunky-HomeSo remember: Blame the developer, not the tool.

I'm not a programmer. and this is my game. this couldn't be done without Gamemaker.

GameMaker have some flaws, but it can be overcome with many fellow dev in forum IMHO.9/10

Pros:

+++++Easy to use. I stopped learning C language at 'printf' level. but could make game above.

+If you use basic sprite function. it's fast enough. (My game can handle 400 enemies, with 60FPS on Celeron G530 2.4ghz dualcore, the game uses around 100, with my new i5 3570 3.4ghz quadcore it handles 800.)

Cons:-It's 32bit program. you can't use over 1.7gb ram. it's bit tough to make modernistic FHD(1080p) game freely.-Some bugs are become tradition. (1.4 1567's collision issue)-Single core program. doesn't care how much core your cpu have. I tested Celeron and i5 and i7. i5 and i7 have almost same compile time. it only cares CPU clock. (if you have big music file, that make some difference but after second compile, it'll go same.)-Gamepad code issue.(extreme slowdown) I think I solved it out but I heard other devs still have issue.

personally I LOVE Gamemaker. but I thought it's not fair if I only tell its pros. so I added some cons too.

123 of 128 people (96%) found this review helpful12 people found this review funny

Recommended

3,772.4 hrs on record

Posted: March 27, 2015

Game Maker will fulfill two different needs very adequately. The hobbyist making a 2D game will appreciate all the tedious framework being done for them with the majority of work being relatively easy programming and asset creation. The clueless but hopeful amateur will appreciate the slow approach to core programming concepts and wondeful supplementary resources like timelines, paths, timers, and the event system in general. If you're looking for a fast and fun jump into 2D amateur game development then look no further.

Keep in mind that any kind of game, regardless of complexity, will require at least some investment and learning. If you're expecting any game development tool to read your mind and pump out your dream game then you should probably take a step back. In the same vein, if you'd like to make something outside the intended scope of Game Maker, be it something with online multiplayer or 3D graphics, then you should look into tools like Unity and Unreal Engine after learning more about programming in general.

With that said, I enjoy working in Game Maker: Studio despite not really having any ambitions beyond simply that. Some people make full commercial games in it, such as the original Spelunky, Nuclear Throne, and others. Either desire is well-appreciated and encouraged here.

Keep in mind that the export modules (sold on Steam as DLC) are not necessary to make and test a game. You simply need them to make a playable standalone on the relevant platform. Some functionality is locked behind DLC, so if you run into a function in the help file you need then consider alternative or simply buy the module. Most modules go on sale at regular intervals, so it's not a wallet-buster over time. I do recommend making something basic and learning the ropes before putting down on modules you may not need.

135 of 144 people (94%) found this review helpful10 people found this review funny

Recommended

16,624.1 hrs on record

Posted: May 24, 2015

I taught myself how to program using Game Maker 5 when I was in fourth grade. Now I am a professional programmer and I still use Game Maker to this day.

Game Maker is a development tool that has a wide range of possibilities. You can make just about any game that the SNES could play, and many that PS1-era games could play as well. However, I've found that this kit is good for making educational apps, data sorting software, and plenty of other possibilities open up when you just apply some creativity and hard work.

To anybody just getting into programming: try out Game Maker Studio for free and make 100 bad games on it. It's the quickest way to learn. Once you know plenty of tricks and methods of doing things wrong, start putting a lot of effort into making a good game. Conquer obstacles including (but not limited to): technical difficulties, struggles with programming logic, your own development fatigue. GMS is a safe environment to learn how to deal with all of these issues and becomes a trusted companion throughout your Game Developing Career.

80 of 83 people (96%) found this review helpful1 person found this review funny

Recommended

45.9 hrs on record

Posted: June 21, 2014

Short version: You need zero programming experience to build games in GameMaker. But it also has an object-oriented language you can use for advanced programming.*****The year was 2004, and I was in junior high study hall. I stumbled across a demo of GameMaker 5.3, and downloaded it to my trusty floppy disk. A few dumb projects later, I convinced my dad to cough up the $15 for the Pro edition.For the summer and for some time beyond, I busied myself with making dumb little games with no real point. I did the free upgrade to 6.0 soon after. After an attempt at a Megaman clone and a goofy Star Wars game, I lost interest. I'd kick around an idea for awhile, but lacked the initiative to complete anything. Flash forward to 2011. I was finishing up a degree in Computer Programming and needed to log 40+ hours on an independant programming project to satisfy my intership requirements. Despite all of the mainstream programming languages I already had been required to choke down in my studies, I decided to teach myself GML - the scripting behind GameMaker. I learned that YoYo Games had made many changes to the original interface that Mark Overmars had engineered, and I was skeptical. I decided to stay with my older version, and to keep away from those that had disgraced my favorite little sandbox.After deciding to return to Indie Development as a more serious endeavor last year, I discovered YoYo Games had overhauled their entire engine and made GameMaker Studio. A little group in Scotland had taken the "fake programming" engine that no one took seriously in my college classes, and turned it into the source of many popular Steam Indie titles.

Think it's expensive to get full version and export modules to port to console and mobile? Look up the Microsoft Visual Studio Professional suite and see how reasonable GameMaker is in comparison. The newest version still is driven by GML. You can use scripting more and more as the foundation for games, but the drag-and-drop is still nice for prototyping. If you buy it, get it on the official company site, and in addition to the standalone, they'll give you Steam keys for it within a week. They always have free versions to try and plenty of support in indie game communities.If you have the time and the patience, Steam Greenlight may be your next stop.

This is a quick, fun (if you like this sort of thing), and easy way to program simple games. I highly recommend you follow all the tutorials you possibly can. You will find that you will learn something new each time that you can add to your arsenal. So far this is how I am progressing.

The first day I made a simple click-the-moving-fruit game that even had sounds. Sure it’s simple, but it’s neat to be able to actually make something. I recently finished Pong by following a youtube series. I recorded my own voice going “boop” when the ball hits the paddles and an unenthusiastic “yaay” when you score a point. That alone cracks me up to no end. I find making games can be just as entertaining as playing them.

You can make some powerful games with this studio. Hotline Miami was made with it. I have no delusions that I will make the next indie hit, and I don't want to. I'm just happy to learn something new and make something of my own.